Tinian, Rota prices still high despite wharfage fee waiver

The waiver on the wharfage fees imposed on Tinian and Rota commodities since August 2016 has not lowered the prices of goods on both islands, and has actually resulted in the Commonwealth Ports Authority losing thousands of dollars.

In light of this, the CPA board’s Committee on Seaport Facilities approved a motion during a meeting last Friday to ask the CPA management to provide the Legislature with CPA’s data so that lawmakers will have the numbers to review the law and see if it is working according to its original intent.

The committee, chaired by Pete Reyes, discussed Public Law 19-62 in a meeting at the Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting classroom of the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport. That law waived the wharfage fee on products intended for Rota and Tinian in a bid to lower the prices of basic commodities on both islands. Yet the price of commodities on the two islands continue to go up, according to CPA.

Wharfage refers to the fee charged by the terminal on the passage of a cargo or merchandize through it.

CPA recently asked Commerce Secretary Mark O. Rabauliman to provide reports and official statistics related to the prices of goods on Rota and Tinian from August 2013 up to the present.

In a later interview, Reyes said they are sending their data on wharfage to the Legislature, so lawmakers can also ask the Department of Commerce to provide its own numbers and analysis to see if the prices of goods are responsive to the intent of the law which should lower the costs.

“Because the price of commodities on Rota and Tinian is very high. I feel sorry for the people of Rota and Tinian,” Reyes said.

He said Public Law 19-62 was essentially enacted, with the intent to help ease the burden on both Tinian and Rota consumers to help out their economy.

By enacting P.L. 19-62 to waive the wharfage fee of any boat that is bringing goods to Rota, it was hoped that that would essentially end up reducing the cost of merchandize on Rota, Reyes said.

“That was the objective that the Legislature wishes to achieve,” said Reyes.

If the people of Rota and Tinian are indeed benefiting from lower costs, then Reyes feels that whatever revenue CPA is losing is worth it.

“Because the whole thing here is to help the people of Rota and the people of Tinian,” he added.

Reyes said they will provide their statistics they’ve collected to the Legislature and the Legislature can ask the Department of Commerce to come up with its own numbers to determine whether the law actually lowers the cost of merchandise and goods that are being sold on Rota and Tinian.

The Legislature can then decide what to do, moving forward.

“They should get this analysis to determine whether it is working or it is not working. And, of course, at the end of the day, they can decide what to do,” he said.

CPA board member Barrie C. Toves told the committee that, in his personal opinion, the prices on Rota have still escalated despite the waiver.

“If it is escalating, there is no point for us to continue…waiving the wharfage,” Toves said, citing the thousands of dollars that CPA could have collected from such a fee on Rota since August 2016 to fiscal year 2019.

CPA’s data for Tinian show that, in August and September 2016, the waived wharfage reached $19,128; in fiscal years 2017 and 2018, the waived wharfage fee reached $159,556 and $141,209, respectively.

In fiscal year 2019, the waived wharfage as of June has already reached $160,325.

Toves asked the committee to follow up with the CPA management on CPA’s request for reports and statistics from Commerce, so CPA can let lawmakers know that this law is not benefitting the people of Tinian and Rota and is having a negative impact on CPA itself.

“We need statistics from Commerce as evidence,” Toves said.

Reyes agreed, saying this is important data that they need to present to the Legislature to let them know that this is the potential revenue that CPA is losing. He said the law should be repealed if there is no benefit to both Rota and Tinian.